"Technical resonance?" Hank looked askance as if he had heard a bad joke.
"Young man, do you understand microphysics? Do you think money can buy truth? Go find your resonance at your yacht parties..."
"Enough, Father!"
Hope couldn't listen any longer. Seeing the man she liked being so rudely targeted and belittled by her father, her protective instinct flared up.
She stood between Homelander and Hank, her eyes looking sharply at her father.
"Put away your persecution complex! Daniel isn't Tony Stark, and Starr Group wasn't built on making bombs!"
"Daniel is also a top scientist! His achievements in the microscopic field are definitely not inferior to yours!"
Hope's voice rose a few notches, unhesitatingly speaking up for Homelander.
"Don't always think you're the only one who holds the truth. In this World, you're not the only one who can Shrink objects!"
These words were like a sudden clap of thunder, exploding in Pym's ears.
His body instantly froze.
"What do you mean?" Hank's gaze swept back and forth between his daughter and Homelander, his voice low.
"What do you mean by 'not the only one who can Shrink objects'?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Hope realized she had let it slip in her excitement.
She had actually blurted it out without Daniel's consent.
She instinctively covered her lips, turning to look at Homelander in a panic, her eyes filled with apology and regret.
"I'm sorry, Daniel... I didn't mean to, I just..." she whispered, trying to explain.
"It's alright, Hope." Homelander gave her a reassuring smile, signaling her not to be nervous.
"There's no need to keep this from Dr. Pym. In fact, I came here today hoping to have an in-depth discussion with him in this field."
Under Pym's puzzled and even somewhat wary gaze,
Homelander stood up and slowly took out that uniquely shaped Shrink.
He pointed the front of the device at himself, his thumb lightly resting on the sliding toggle.
"Keep your eyes open, Dr. Pym. Science has never had only one path."
"Buzz—!"
A faint high-frequency vibration sounded, and a pale orange fan-shaped beam enveloped the top of Homelander's head.
Right under Hank Pym's nose,
the tall and handsome Asian youth's body rapidly collapsed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished without a trace right before his eyes.
"My God..."
Hank suddenly stood up from the sofa. Because the movement was too abrupt, he even knocked over the teacup in front of him, spilling black tea all over the floor.
Hope knew exactly what was happening; she gracefully crouched down and placed her fair, smooth palm flat on the carpet.
A miniature version of Homelander, only a few centimeters tall, walked onto Hope's palm with composed steps.
Hope carefully cupped her hand and moved it in front of her father.
Hank's eyes widened as he leaned in within inches of Hope's palm, staring intently at the tiny human standing in his daughter's hand.
"Incredible..."
As the inventor of Pym Particles, he knew better than anyone in the World what this meant.
"How did you do it?!" Pym stared at Homelander in Hope's palm with burning eyes, like an apprentice consumed by a thirst for knowledge.
"No sealed suit? No life-support helmet? Not even any auxiliary breathing equipment?!"
One must know that the most difficult technical barrier for Pym Particles was never shrinking things; it was shrinking a living person without them dying.
Homelander began to briefly explain the advanced theory instilled in him by the system.
"This technology doesn't rely on compressing atomic spacing; it's based on the direct interference of Planck constant waves... (The technology is too advanced to display.)"
Hank listened intently. Sometimes frowning, sometimes exclaiming "My God," as an authoritative expert in this field, he could understand every theory Homelander threw out.
Although these theories were shocking, they were logically self-consistent within a specific high-dimensional physics framework.
An undisputed genius!
Hank slumped back onto the sofa, feeling incredibly moved.
The formula for Pym Particles was a miracle he had accidentally discovered through countless coincidences in his experiments; it was a roll of God's dice, containing a huge element of luck.
No matter how talented others were, they could only follow in his footsteps to explore; it was impossible to create it out of thin air.
Yet the technology shown by the young man named Daniel before him was clearly based on a genius's inspiration combined with solid foundational theory.
From nothing, he had miraculously blazed a brand-new trail in microphysics.
At this moment, Hank Pym's perception of Homelander underwent a 180-degree turn.
Putting aside his identity as an executive of Starr Group, this research capability alone was enough for the young man to earn his respect.
"You are a true genius, Daniel." Pym's tone dropped its previous contempt, replaced by a hint of sincere admiration.
Prompt! Gained special popularity value +5000! (From Hank Pym)
Seeing her father finally acknowledge Homelander, Hope felt a strong surge of pride.
"I told you so, Father." She struck while the iron was hot, chiming in from the side.
"Daniel is someone who truly cares about the fate of humanity. He researches this technology to benefit the World, not to create chaos. We should trust him."
Seeing his daughter constantly speaking up for an outsider, Hank's newly formed goodwill instantly plummeted.
So what if he's a genius? A genius is still a man!
Any man trying to take his daughter away is a class enemy!
Moreover, this man was a dangerous element holding both capital and lethal technology!
Hank felt inexplicably annoyed, and a nameless fire surged up again.
He gave a heavy cold snort, his expression turning stern again.
"Benefit humanity? I've heard far too much of that high-sounding talk." Hank looked askance at Homelander in Hope's palm, his tone sharp.
"Hope, you've been blinded by him! Who knows if he's just putting on an act sitting here today? Maybe he just wants to use you to get the core formula for Pym Particles and then combine the two technologies to make even more terrifying weapons!"
"The nature of a capitalist is greed; it's written in their genes!"
Hearing her father being so stubborn, Hope turned pale with anger: "Father! You're being completely unreasonable!"
"Dr. Pym."
Just as the father and daughter were about to erupt, Homelander spoke up in time to stop their argument.
"Rather than sitting here like a paranoid patient, worrying pointlessly about whether I'll disrupt the World in the future, you should consider the current situation."
"At this very moment, someone has already turned your life's work into a weapon and is offering quotes to the World's most dangerous buyers."
"And that person isn't me. It's the very student you personally mentored, Darren Cross!"
Homelander's words cut to the quick, mercilessly ripping open Hank's scars.